Elliott Management Seeks to Raise $1 Billion to Create SPAC: DJ

(Bloomberg) -- Elliott Management Corp., a hedge fund known for its activist shareholder campaigns, is meeting with bankers to raise more than $1 billion to fund a special purpose-acquisition company, Dow Jones reported Sunday.

The process is at an early stage and plans could change, Dow Jones said, citing people familiar with the matter who weren’t identified. Elliott, founded by billionaire Paul Singer, could use the proceeds to buy a company potentially worth double-digit billions, based on targets similarly sized SPACs have agreed to deals with, the report said.

Once an obscure investment vehicle, SPACs raised $83 billion on U.S. exchanges in 2020, accounting for about 46% of the total of all initial public offerings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This year, at least 117 SPACs have already raised more than $35 billion, on pace for another record year. SPACs pool funds to finance merger and acquisition opportunities.

It isn’t clear which industries Elliott might have its sights on, Dow Jones said.

Elliott, with more than $45 billion in assets under management, has agitated for change at some of the world’s largest and most prominent companies, including Twitter Inc., Softbank Group Corp., AT&T Inc., and others.

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